Chocolate 'N Children

May 27, 2015April 9, 2016

Influenster Bella Vox Box Review

I just love my latest Influenster Bella Vox Box! So many great products!

EcoTools Complexion Collection Mattifying Finish Brush

This brush is so very soft! As in it’s so soft you almost don’t feel it. It also blends really well – which is what it’s supposed to do. It blends my finishing powder in without smearing any of my other makeup.

I love this brush! And it’s only $9 from Amazon, a great price for a terrific brush!

DOVE^® Fruit

When this product arrived it was melted, not just soft, melted. I don’t recommend shipping it to anyone any time soon since the weather is rather hot these days. I stuck it in the freezer and let it harden, then pulled out my tiny cheese chopping block and cheese knife and sliced it up. It was still very delicious! And the kids thought it was pretty awesome to slice and eat chocolate.

Rimmel London Scandaleyes Mascara created by Kate Moss

I was happy with this product. Rimmel Scandaleyes Idol Eyes Mascara by Kate Moss is also $9 on Amazon. I don’t wear mascara often because my eyes are sensitive to it for some reason. Happily, this mascara did not irritate my eyes. Horray! It does however bleed a tad more than I like so after wearing it for the evening when I get home there is some black under my eye. I don’t think it’s noticeable to anyone but me.

This mascara is easy to apply – the curved brush looks hard to use but it actually gives me a lot of flexibility so I can turn the brush which ever way I need to best apply my mascara. It also washes off pretty well – so no black eyes the next day!

This is the best mascara I’ve used in a long time and achieves 2 of my 3 mascara needs. 1. Does NOT irritate my eyes. 2. Washes off easily 3. Doesn’t bleed while wearing (it’s not too bad, but I do notice it)

Rimmel London Lasting Finish Lipstick by Kate

I love this lipstick! It’s such a great shade. Pink (Shade number 17) but still a bit muted so my lips aren’t neon! They have lots of great shades. I was sent a light pink. It adds color to my lips without being too bold.

This lipstick is also moisturizing and doesn’t dry out my lips. It stays on a long time. And it tastes ok. Seriously, there are some lipsticks I can stand because they taste terrible!

This is a great lipstick and I’ll definitely be trying out some of the other shades as well.

Not Your Mother’s Deja Vu Do Style Extender

This is my favorite product that I received in my Bella Vox Box. I have so much trouble controlling my hair! I’m always hunting for a product that gives me more control and less frizz. This product actually keeps my hair tame for days! You know, with 3 little kids I honestly don’t get to wash my hair every day.

I’m just loving this Style Extender. It does exactly what it says, it extends my hair style for an extra day or two when needed. And it makes me feel so much better about my hair, even on days when I haven’t had time to do anything with it.

It’s a bit pricey. Almost $12 on Amazon, but one bottle lasts a long time and it works so well, it’s totally worth it!

Club W

I actually don’t drink wine and they sent a coupon for buy 2 get one free so I didn’t end up trying this product. I did browse their website, look at the wines, and recipes. They have some great looking stuff on there!

If you want your own wine they also gave me a coupon code to share use coupon code REFERME on their website for your own buy two get one free wines. Most of their wines are $13 a bottle, so not terribly expensive.

Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs

This product was not in my box, it was supposed to be in there, but got left out :(. I’m so sad. With summer just arriving here, I was so looking forward to trying this out! I received lots of other great products so I’m very happy with my box. This does look like a great product to try if you don’t quite have your tan yet but you want to wear a short skirt!

I received these products free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

May 26, 2015April 9, 2016

Trilane Retinol+Vitamin C Review and Coupon

I received this product free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

For starters, here’s what Healthy Directions say about their product. Trilane® Retinol + Vitamin C moisturizer gives you everything original Trilane® Anti-Aging Moisturizer with Squalane offers, plus age-fighting and skin-renewing antioxidants to leave your skin smoother, more even, for a more radiant, youthful glow.

– Smoothes and evens out skin texture
– Speeds turnover of skin cells
– Reduces fine lines and wrinkles
– Protects your skin from environmental damage
– Diminishes brown spots
– Minimizes and unclogs pores
– Gentle enough for everyday use

And it’s available for purchase on Amazon. If you have prime you even get free shipping!

For even more savings get 20% off your purchase with coupon code SAVERETC.

Now, for my opinion.

Aroma – My favorite thing about the Trilane® Retinol + Vitamin C moisturizer is that it has no smell. I can’t tell you how much I hate applying a facial moisturizer that smells like I’m putting perfume on my face! Trilane® Retinol + Vitamin C smells like nothing! Horray! I feel like I’m putting a moisturizer on my face and that’s it. Which is exactly what I want.

Skin Texture – My skin is pretty smooth already so I can’t really say it it improved my facial skin. My skin tone is nice and even with a healthy brightness while using Trilane® Retinol + Vitamin C moisturizer. So, I would say it works well for me.

Oily Skin – The first day I used it I wasn’t impressed, it made my skin oily. After almost a week of using it, my skin is no longer oily and it’s still well moisturized. I have somewhat oily skin so this is my first criteria for my facial moisturizer.

I usually give stuff a week though before making a decision because I have to give my skin time enough to completely adjust. After a week, my skin is looking great and it’s not oily. So if you’re not impressed the first day, give it a week and see what you think before giving up.

Makeup – My makeup wears well over it, as in it stays on well. I don’t wear foundation that often so it’s important that my facial moisturizer provide enough moisture for my makeup to stick.

Moisturizing – And last but not least, it moisturizes really well while being very gentle at the same time.

It’s gentle enough that I’m going to try it out on my middle child and see if it helps her with some dry skin on her face. I always try stuff like this first before using it on the kids and I think Trilane® Retinol + Vitamin C moisturizer will work great for her.

Baked Bacon Recipe

I don’t know about you, but I love bacon! I especially love it in the mornings with eggs and pancakes. But, just as much as I love bacon. I hate frying it. The grease splatters everywhere!

With 3 little kids my saturday morning ends up looking like this.

4yr old climbs in bed with us at 5, husband sends her back to bed at 6. At 6:30 she’s returned to my side of the bed and wants hot chocolate. My opening and closing door has awakend the 2yr old who’s always afraid he’s going to miss something.

I get him up and head out to the kitchen with the two littlest ones. I hold the 2yr old so he doesn’t freak out in the 1.5 minutes it takes to heat up hot chocolates in the microwave. Yes, we do this every single morning. It takes the same amount of time every single morning. And still he thinks the microwave is going to drink his milk and eat his car cup.

They sit on the couch and watch their morning show on netflix. I make coffee. I sit on the couch with them and drink my coffee (actually, I sit down, get up to make little man another hot chocolate, sit down, get up and make the middle child another hot chocolate, sit down, get up and hunt for my coffee, sit back down, and finally drink my cold coffee).

I like to do a larger breakfast on Saturdays since we’re usually pretty busy once we get going.

I decide to make bacon, eggs, and pancakes. I start the bacon on a skillet on the stove. Which means that none of the kids can pull a chair up to the counter and “help” me because of the splattering grease. While monitoring the bacon, I mix up the pancakes, convince the children that I will indeed include chocolate chips in their pancakes, get some berry sauce started on the back burner of the stove (any berry will do, and the kids love it!), and then start actually cooking the pancakes.

About this time, I hear my husband hop in the shower, and my 6yr old appears and complains about how hungry and thirsty she is. The 2yr old wants to know if she can eat her pancake now and burns her finger when she tries to grab a hot one off the plate I’m setting them on. I check the bacon, calm her down, flip pancakes just before they burn, and then get her a plate with a pancake (cut up with syrup) and tell her to sit at the table with it, not the couch.

I start cracking eggs in a bowl to make scrambled eggs, little man who is insisting on hanging on my legs by now because he’s dying of starvation (2 hot chocolates are obviously not enough to tide such a tiny fella over for even 15 more minutes), complains because a bit of grease from the bacon splattered and got him. I hand him a cooled pancake to nibble on so I can actually cook and he takes it to the couch, eats half of it, and crumbles the rest.

Husband enters the room, showered and dressed and remarks that he wishes I would not let the kids eat on the couch. Because of course, both children are sitting on the couch eating instead of at the table. The 6yr old complains again about how hungry she is, but she doesn’t want to eat until the bacon is done.

The bacon is taking FOREVER! Pancakes are done, berry sauce is done, I start the eggs. Flip more bacon. A few minutes later, eggs are done and still the bacon is cooking. I dish up plates for everyone, everyone sits down to eat and I finally finish the bacon.

Husband picks through the bacon to find the crispiest pieces. I sit down at the table and the kids all ask for something to drink… And husband suggests that we should all hurry up and eat so we can go to some yard sales.

All that to say, I discovered that I can bake bacon. It’s way easier, and give me one less thing to manage in the mornings!

Baked Bacon

Oven at 375. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spread the bacon out in a single layer and bake until done to your desired crispiness. Usually about 30 minutes for me depending on how thick the bacon is.

If you want something more than plain bacon, top your bacon with 1tbsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup brown sugar (mix them together first), then bake until done. For a delicious glazed bacon.

You’re bacon’s all done at the same time, and there’s no grease splattering all over your kitchen!

May 22, 2015May 21, 2015

Food Friday – First CSA Box Results

My first CSA box was full of some great stuff. Take a look at all the tasty treats here!

What did I do with all of this? Well, for starters I had fun! I love trying new recipes and experimenting in the kitchen. Here’s what I came up with.

Roasted Radishes

Thinly slice your radishes and spread them on a cookie sheet. Top with a bit of butter, salt, and pepper, and bake in the oven at 300 for about 30 minutes. Taking them out and stirring every 10 minutes.

Don’t these look delicious? I’m not a big fan of radishes, but these had a great flavor and after being baked were still packed with flavor but were not spicy like raw radishes are.

Strawberry Shortcakes

Because who can resist a strawberry dessert with strawberries so sweet they don’t need sugar!

I purchased the cake from the store.

The strawberries are easy, cut the tops off, slice, and put them on top of the cake.

I put my strawberry tops in a tupperware in the freezer for using in smoothies later.

For the whipped cream, it’s so easy! 1 cup of whipping cream, 1 Tablespoon sugar, beat with an electric mixer until it’s as thick as you want it. I like mine pretty thick. Place on top and enjoy!

Pesto

I had what I think were carrot tops, so I made some pesto to top my steamed carrots and broccoli with.

I liked the pesto on my carrots but not on my broccoli. I also tried it on corn chips and that was not good at all. So stick with using this on carrots.

4 Cups carrot tops (cut off the stems and use mostly just the leafy parts)
1 Clove garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp oil
2 tsp lemon juice

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend, scraping down sides as needed, until the pesto is finely chopped and well combined. Serve with roasted or steamed carrots.

May 18, 2015April 24, 2015

Dinner Club

A while back I found this great idea an and old cooking magazine that I had lying around. It’s called a Dinner Club. Sounds pretty impressive!

When you get down to it, it’s actually very simple.

You get 3 or 4 families together for dinner once a quarter. More often if you want, but once every three months is good for us. You rotate houses. For our first dinner I hosted. Next time, someone else will host. If you have 4 families and you meet once a quarter, each family will only host once a year.

The host family provides the main dish. Anything they want. And then the other families bring the sides and dessert. Since it’s great grilling weather, we decided to do hotdogs and hamburgers. The other families coming brought broccoli with cheese sauce, chips, brownies, and soft drinks.

You could do tacos, steaks, stir-fry, pork roast, or really anything that you want. Just pick the main dish and let everyone know what it is and then the attendees can bring the sides that they like to eat with this main dish.

We met at 4:00 on a Saturday. Since we all have kids this worked well because we had plenty of time to eat and talk and let the kids play but everyone was still able to head home and put the kids to bed on time.

We had a lot of fun! It was simple, and low pressure to prepare for. And we can’t wait to do it again!

May 15, 2015May 14, 2015

First Food Friday

We’re trying out a CSA for the first time this year. I’m so excited! To celebrate, I’m going to be doing a Food Friday series on the blog every Friday.

I picked up my first box on Wednesday, so no recipes today since I haven’t had a ton of time to work with my box yet, but you’ll start seeing recipes and tips next week. So come back.

This week, I’ll just show you what’s in my box and my initial reactions to everything.

Lettuce, a whole giant head of it. Actually, it’s a bunch, not a head, because it’s not round. Anyways…we love salads at my house so we’ll have no trouble eating this up!

Broccoli, we also love broccoli – at least I love broccoli so I think everyone else should too. I did steam some for dinner Wednesday night and it’s delicious! There’s six little heads here. Come back next week to see what I do with all of it.

Strawberries, and they’re delicious! Also, they didn’t last past Thursday, we just gobbled them up. Someone did tell me that the tops are great in smoothies. So I’ve frozen them for later smoothie making. We’ll see how it turns out.

Broccolini, at least, I think that’s what it is. There seems to be a lot of leaf and not a lot of broccoli flower. I’ve seen so many recipes for this green but my local Kroger doesn’t sell it, now I get to try it!

There’s one other mysterious green leafy item that I think is carrot tops, I’ve also heard that these are very tasty and quite nutritious but I’ve never tried them. This could be exciting. If all else fails, I’ll just use my favorite greens recipe and it’ll be delicious.

These are some rather large green onions (also see the carrot tops in the bottom-left-hand corner). One per recipe should work great.

And last item, radishes. I haven’t had a radish since I was a kid. I sliced up the tiny one that you can see in the picture and ate it just to see how spicy they are. Not too bad, but I don’t see any of my kids or my husband eating them just sliced on a salad so I’m going to have to find a better use for them.

I’m so excited to have some new vegetables I’ve never tried before to cook with, and I’m excited to have some of my favorites like strawberries and broccoli, and not so excited about the radishes.

Come back next Friday to see what I make with all of this!

May 13, 2015April 9, 2016

Shadow of the Mountain – Book Review

It’s been a really long time since I’ve read Christian fiction. Long time as in, I was about 12 the last time I read Christian Fiction. I read 2 kid’s Frank Peretti books and they scared me so much, I haven’t read Christian Fiction since then.

I’ve been wanting some new books to read and this review opportunity came up. From the description it looked like a book that I would like so I decided to give it a shot.

I’m so glad I did! I absolutely loved this book! Also, it says it’s the first in a series, so I’m looking forward to reading the others as they come out. I can’t wait to see who Cliff Graham is going to write about next.

Shadow of the Mountain is a Fictional backstory for Caleb in the Bible. Lots of excitement and adventure and a really great story about how he became who he was.

I can’t say a ton about the plot because I don’t want to give anything away. It’s easy to read, the story flows well, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t often stay up really late reading but I pulled a couple of late nights reading this book.

If you’re looking for something new to read, you should give this book a try! I’ll make it easy – You can go here to buy Shadow of the Mountain: Exodus on Amazon.com.

I received this item free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

May 8, 2015May 5, 2015

Happy Mother’s Day!

There are ways you want to be wished Happy Mother’s day and there are ways you don’t. In celebration of Mother’s Day, I’m sharing my most random Mother’s Day wish of the year!

I don’t know about you, but the end of April and beginning of May is just a crazy time around here. With all our end of school year stuff plus beginning of summer stuff, we’re super busy! So, I was actually pretty happy when my daughter’s end of year ballet performance arrived. I’m so ready to be done with lessons for the summer and spend as much time as possible at the pool!

The exciting part about this is that her ballet performance is at one of our downtown theaters. Now, I live in a medium sized city, but more in the suburbs so it’s not that often that I go downtown, park in a parking garage, and have to walk city streets. It’s really not my favorite thing with little kids in tow.

For her performance I end up being downtown 3 nights in a row. The first night, is tech. She’s in two classes and her techs were 1.5 hrs apart. So after her first one she changed and we walked up to the square for some icecream – I will say, I was pretty proud of myself for remembering where it was. Only two blocks away from the theater, but seeing as it’s been about 4 months since I was down here I’m not always certain of my directions. That was uneventful. We were downtown from about 3pm to 6pm so we left right about the time the restaurants started getting busier.

The second night however, was not as uneventful. I dropped her off at 6 and had to be back at 9 to pick her up. It was rather busy when I dropped her off but I didn’t think about it at the time (I found out later that that particular night was the one night out of the month that all the musicians set up downtown in all the storefronts so it’s a really busy night). When I came to pick her up, my 4yr old came along – she wasn’t going to go to bed without her sister since they share a room so why not!

I was glad I got there 15 minutes early. I circled the entire parking garage and there was no parking. So, I decided to exit and try the garage across the street. As I pulled out there was a spot right on the street that had just opened up – so I parked – parallel parked – luckily I was driving my husband’s car, I never would have been able to do this in the van!

After parking I was walking up the alley between where I parked and the front door to the theater (really, it’s a one way street, but it’s kind of an alley because not a lot of people are on it). On the way up I see that I’m going to pass this guy, and I instantly recognize that he’s going to say something to me. Now, I have my 4yr old with me, the guy looks drunk, so I’m kind nervous.

People always talk to me – in the checkout line at the grocery store, waiting at the post office, walking through a store parking lot – people feel compelled to tell me their life story. I don’t know why. But, I can usually tell when someone is going to say something. So, I avoided eye contact because I’d rather not have this random conversation, with a drunk guy, in an alley, with my 4yr old in tow.

But, he feels the need to speak anyways. Right as we reach him, “Happy Mother’s Day!” he says (and yes, he was drunk, because his speech was slurred). “Thank you!” I smile, and continue walking past him. Totally relieved!

Happy Mothers Day!

May 6, 2015April 9, 2016

Kitchen Scale

I received an Etekcity® 0.1oz High Accuracy 13lb/6kg Digital Multifunction Kitchen Food Scale to try and review.

This is a pretty inexpensive kitchen scale so I wasn’t really sure what to expect quality wise, but I’m very happy with it.

It’s easy to operate and has all the different weights that I need. I like that it has partial ounces so there’s greater accuracy. The display is easy to read. At first I was concerned that it only goes up to 13 pounds, but I haven’t found anything anywhere near 13 pounds in my kitchen that I need to weigh.

The first time I used it it was on the counter and the edge was bumping up against something else on the counter behind it and my weights were all over the place. So I moved stuff away from it (just so nothing was touching it) pushed the start button so it would go to zeros and it works great. So, just make sure it’s not touching anything else when you use it because the scale seems to go all the way to the edge.

My 1st grader has started wanting to weigh everything at the grocery store, and she’s so excited to have a scale to play with. I showed her how to use it and she can operate it without assistance – it’s that easy!

Also, it’s small, which I love, because it’s easy to store. I don’t have a ton of room in my kitchen so I needed a scale that I could easily store.

All in all, a great scale for the price.

I received this product free for purposes of my review. All opinions are my own.

May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

3 Thing Im Glad My Mother Taught Me

My mom taught me so much! And there’s lots I continue to learn. Thinking back through this year, there’s 3 things I’m so glad she taught me!

1. Cooking – I cannot tell you how often I’m so glad I can cook! And I can do more than follow recipes, if I don’t have the right ingredients I improvise, I add spices as needed, and I’ll just wing it when I feel like it. Having confidence in the kitchen is such a blessing. I remember being at the counter helping bake, cook, and making a mess right along with my mom. Now, I let my kids do the same!

I’ll never forget the time I mixed up this beautiful tri-colored pound cake (in a bundt pan). I was in my early teens so fully capable of following a recipe. That cake was lots of work, and having three colors just made it more complicated. I successfully mixed it, baked it as instructed, and then set it on the rack to cool for 5 minutes. Next, continuing to follow the directions, I tipped it over and dumped it out onto the rack.

Only problem was, it wasn’t done. There were 3 colors of poundcake batter dripping down the counter and making a puddle on the floor. I cried, and I know my mom felt exactly as I did (even though she wasn’t crying). She had to clean up the mess. And then, we had a lesson on how to check a cake for doneness BEFORE tipping it over.

2. Sometimes Life is Hard – But you don’t give up. Life is constantly frustrating, irritating and just downright hard. But that’s all part of life, and definitely part of mothering.

Thankfully, that usually balances out with fun, love, and successes! You just don’t give up when things get hard, just keep going and things will come out ok in the end.

3. My Emotions are My Choice – I don’t mean I don’t have them. I can’t always choose when they’ll strike. But, I can be responsible for them. There are days I count to 10 before answering any questions. And there’s times I’m just tired, hungry, and crabby – and everyone knows it. That’s what coffee and chocolate are for!

Some days it’s really hard, but I can’t blame anyone for how I respond to things – like right now I would really like to tell the girls exactly what I think about them interrupting my writing for the 20th time instead of playing quietly in their room! Instead I calmly gave two choices. They can play quietly in their room until I come get them or they can take a nap like their Brother. We’ll see how long it lasts, but hopefully at least until I’m done writing!

With 2 girls I’ve started teaching emotional responsibility already. It’s ok to be mad – but we do not throw things or slam doors when we’re mad. It’s ok to be upset and it’s ok to cry – but we don’t yell at siblings or say unkind things because we’re upset. It’s not about not experiencing the emotion but it’s about remembering that no matter how I feel I still have a responsibility to be kind and considerate towards others.